chinese nationals receive harsh prison terms for crypto fraud

[bitterguy28]

chinese court sentenced 9 chinese nationals for building an elaborate and sophisticated scheme which specifically targeted indian nationals the scheme was able to victimize over 66,000 indians with value of $6 million
The group used fake online personas, including photos and documents, to pose as wealthy Indian women who had profited from investing. Li Mouwang, a group member, said his character was an Indian woman who gained wealth through investments and used romantic conversations with Indian men to convince them to invest in the Senee fund. Judge Liu Xilei, who oversaw the case, said the scheme was tightly organized, well-coordinated, and intentionally aimed at foreign nationals, although similar methods still impact domestic victims.

it is unfortunate for the victims but it is good that the local court did not try to enable their citizens' wrongdoings and landed them what they think is appropriate punishment the sentence may last for 5 to 14 years do you think the punishment is too harsh or just well deserved?

source

[Charles-Tim]

That is a fraud case, the punishment is not harsh at all. In fact, the scammers are really worth the punishment. They do not want to survive without making the live of other people bad so why not just send them to prison. This will teach other people like them to avoid scamming people. Although, people will always be people and there will always be scammers.

[Kemarit]

It is expected that the Chinese government will give harsh prison sentence to any one committing fraud. I mean they are authoritative that's why this criminals really know what they are getting if they go becoming criminals in their country.

If this happens to the US, maybe just 10 years prison and if you show good behavior you might be out in less than that. So I'm not surprised on the meted sentence at least justice has been served.

[yhiaali3]

I believe the punishment is fair, depending on the type of crime. A prison sentence of 5-14 years will be a deterrent to those who steal people's money and dreams. People work hard for years to earn some money, only for these criminals to come and steal from them with such ease.

What surprises me is that this group of scammers is targeting Indians exclusively!! I mean, why Indians exclusively?!! Is it easier to deceive Indians than other nationalities? Or is the penalty for deceiving Indians less severe?

[ABCbits]

It may look harsh at first glance, but we need to consider total of victim and average income in India. In average, each victim lost about 90 USD or nearly half of minimum income for unskilled worked[1]. Although i expect some Indians have income less than required by law.

What surprises me is that this group of scammers is targeting Indians exclusively!! I mean, why Indians exclusively?!! Is it easier to deceive Indians than other nationalities? Or is the penalty for deceiving Indians less severe?

I would speculate it's due to combination of familiarity with India culture and it's more difficult to report criminal located on different country.

[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/delhi-government-raises-minimum-wages-unskilled-workers-to-earn-18456-skilled-workers-22411-from-april-2025/articleshow/120314814.cms

[philipma1957]

I believe the punishment is fair, depending on the type of crime. A prison sentence of 5-14 years will be a deterrent to those who steal people's money and dreams. People work hard for years to earn some money, only for these criminals to come and steal from them with such ease.

What surprises me is that this group of scammers is targeting Indians exclusively!! I mean, why Indians exclusively?!! Is it easier to deceive Indians than other nationalities? Or is the penalty for deceiving Indians less severe?

Probably due to Indian laws. India had a lot of rules about mining.

I am impressed that 66000 people only lost 6,000,000

That is only around 90 dollars a person.


I would like them to blind one eye on them along with the prison sentence.

They would always have a reminder of what they did and they would know next time they would lose the other eye.

[TomPluz]

In my own humble view, there should be a death penalty for scamming people most especially if they were able to victimized worth at least a million dollar of fraud. Harsh to the one receiving the punishment but not so for people who are victims of the scam. And sadly, I am seeing similar type of ads here in my own country even appearing in Facebook which of all social media outfits seems to be more lenient in accepting possible red flag ads. The operation mentioned above can be liken to the POGO (offshore gaming type of a business) operations which was allowed here in my country in the previous administration and they really caused unnecessary havoc and destroyed many lives as many of the operators eventually expanded into scams and frauds  which found out to be more lucrative.

[philipma1957]

In my own humble view, there should be a death penalty for scamming people most especially if they were able to victimized worth at least a million dollar of fraud. Harsh to the one receiving the punishment but not so for people who are victims of the scam. And sadly, I am seeing similar type of ads here in my own country even appearing in Facebook which of all social media outfits seems to be more lenient in accepting possible red flag ads. The operation mentioned above can be liken to the POGO (offshore gaming type of a business) operations which was allowed here in my country in the previous administration and they really caused unnecessary havoc and destroyed many lives as many of the operators eventually expanded into scams and frauds  which found out to be more lucrative.

Death penalty is too harsh. And once they do the crime they have nothing to lose.

If they all got 5 years and 1 eye lost they would know the next punishment wouId be worse.

I am still Impressed that the average person lost 90 or 91 dollars

[yhiaali3]

I would speculate it's due to combination of familiarity with India culture and it's more difficult to report criminal located on different country.

[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/delhi-government-raises-minimum-wages-unskilled-workers-to-earn-18456-skilled-workers-22411-from-april-2025/articleshow/120314814.cms

Probably due to Indian laws. India had a lot of rules about mining.

I am impressed that 66000 people only lost 6,000,000

That is only around 90 dollars a person.


I would like them to blind one eye on them along with the prison sentence.

They would always have a reminder of what they did and they would know next time they would lose the other eye.

This is truly unfortunate. It is well known that Indians are generally poor and that they are dispersed throughout the world to work for cheap wages. It is unfortunate that these fraudsters exploit the good Indian culture and disregard such humanitarian needs. They steal small sums from these miserables people who have emigrated from their homelands to earn some extra money. Therefore, I agree with what @philipma1957 said. Their punishment should be more severe because it is inhumane, in addition to being fraudulent.

[MrSpasybo]

chinese court sentenced 9 chinese nationals for building an elaborate and sophisticated scheme which specifically targeted indian nationals the scheme was able to victimize over 66,000 indians with value of $6 million
The group used fake online personas, including photos and documents, to pose as wealthy Indian women who had profited from investing. Li Mouwang, a group member, said his character was an Indian woman who gained wealth through investments and used romantic conversations with Indian men to convince them to invest in the Senee fund. Judge Liu Xilei, who oversaw the case, said the scheme was tightly organized, well-coordinated, and intentionally aimed at foreign nationals, although similar methods still impact domestic victims.

it is unfortunate for the victims but it is good that the local court did not try to enable their citizens' wrongdoings and landed them what they think is appropriate punishment the sentence may last for 5 to 14 years do you think the punishment is too harsh or just well deserved?

Crypto is once again being misused as a tool for criminal activities, but crypto is not to blame, it's simply an asset in the economy. I'm not exactly sure about the tone of China media, but given their current anti-crypto stance, they might accuse crypto of being a dangerous asset class for society. Severe penalties could be presented negatively: these criminals paid the price for being involved with crypto ^^

Criminals are becoming increasingly dangerous and professional with the support of AI and crypto. Of course, this doesn't mean we should oppose AI and crypto, we just need to raise awareness to protect ourselves from such risks. Let's embrace love in everyday life instead of searching for it on the Internet ^^

[electronicash]

so its a love scam as well. this seem a very common scam in my country only this time its the Chinese that's doing it.  i wonder how it goes when their accents is pretty much recognizable.

why targeting Indians, i guess Indians likes women so much that they couldn't resist and may not be able to say no to pretty woman on the photos.  and there are tons of rich indians too.

[Zed0X]

With the videos I've seen on social media, I find it quite unbelievable that the roles were reversed this time. I mean that it's the Indians that turned out to be the victim of a scam/fraud now (no offense to the honest and hardworking people in India). Anyway, I read that China is one of the strictest country when it comes to enforcing laws. Sentences like that seems common there.

[joniboini]

I mean that it's the Indians that turned out to be the victim of a scam/fraud now (no offense to the honest and hardworking people in India).

I think that prejudice comes from some companies outsourcing their CS agents to India for a cheaper labour force, especially in digital/tech businesses. I'm sure you can still find some jokes like that in recently released videos about scams, though not as prevalent as before. I mean, when your nation has a ton of people, some of them are bound to be scammers. Unfortunately, people like to generalize everything, so that's that. CMIIW.

Regarding the punishment, it would be great if they could serve longer sentences. Hard to see if that will be enough to reform them, or if they return with another scam operation after they got out of jail though.

[bitterguy28]

This will teach other people like them to avoid scamming people. Although, people will always be people and there will always be scammers.

the thing is that people will always think they are smarter than the previous ones who committed the crime people will always believe that they can execute another scam without getting caught this is why people continue to commit scams even if harsh penalties are given like this to scammers

I mean that it's the Indians that turned out to be the victim of a scam/fraud now (no offense to the honest and hardworking people in India).

I think that prejudice comes from some companies outsourcing their CS agents to India for a cheaper labour force, especially in digital/tech businesses. I'm sure you can still find some jokes like that in recently released videos about scams, though not as prevalent as before. I mean, when your nation has a ton of people, some of them are bound to be scammers. Unfortunately, people like to generalize everything, so that's that. CMIIW.

i agree i am from also a third world country and there was a recent cause of fraud using my countrymen as well because it is cheaper to pay for them it is definitely just a generalization anyone can be a scammer regardless of nationality

[target]

This will teach other people like them to avoid scamming people. Although, people will always be people and there will always be scammers.

the thing is that people will always think they are smarter than the previous ones who committed the crime people will always believe that they can execute another scam without getting caught this is why people continue to commit scams even if harsh penalties are given like this to scammers

I mean that it's the Indians that turned out to be the victim of a scam/fraud now (no offense to the honest and hardworking people in India).

I think that prejudice comes from some companies outsourcing their CS agents to India for a cheaper labour force, especially in digital/tech businesses. I'm sure you can still find some jokes like that in recently released videos about scams, though not as prevalent as before. I mean, when your nation has a ton of people, some of them are bound to be scammers. Unfortunately, people like to generalize everything, so that's that. CMIIW.

i agree i am from also a third world country and there was a recent cause of fraud using my countrymen as well because it is cheaper to pay for them it is definitely just a generalization anyone can be a scammer regardless of nationality

Every country has its own scammers. not the kind of a Nigerian prince but some are legally scamming people while they are in the 1st world country. 

Its not so surprising at all of we see our countrymen scamming online, when its harder to find jobs today. Its going to get worse and the scamming would also get worse. For these Chinese who only got $6M from the Indians, they could be targeting the wrong crowd. Indians are way technologically advance to get scammed.